


Never Enough (Reprise)

by Faye_Claudia



Series: Where the Runaways are Running the Night [7]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Family Reunion, Feral Dragon Lady Valka, Gen, Hiccup can't kill a dragon, Hiccup runs away, Inspired by The Greatest Showman (2017), Mother-Son Relationship, Some angst, Toothless is basically hiccup's exasperated older brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:53:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25205770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faye_Claudia/pseuds/Faye_Claudia
Summary: “These hands can hold the worldbut it'll never be enough,”
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Valka, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson, Stoick the Vast/Valka
Series: Where the Runaways are Running the Night [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1110813
Comments: 6
Kudos: 100





	Never Enough (Reprise)

Hiccup was procrastinating. Running away. Hiding. Astrid had made it clear that she disapproved of his methods; but Dagur had clapped him on the back and told him to come back soon, they had an attack on a dragon queen’s nest to plan. Astrid was better at strategy anyway, would probably make a better chief and leader than Hiccup ever could. Toothless warbled disapprovingly at Hiccup; maybe because he could sense Hiccup’s spiral into self-deprecation and insecurity, but probably because the big baby wasn’t getting the attention that he wanted from his rider. 

“Yeah, I know,” Hiccup answered, somewhat nonsensically. He’d flown further north, where it was cold enough for the water to swirl in indecision between frozen and liquid, and massive shards of ice jutted out of the depths. His armour did little to keep him warm, despite the fact that he’d built it to withstand the windchill that was expected when it came to Dragon riding. He had landed on one of the shards, his metal foot thudding solidly against the ice as he had dismounted. He could see nothing but ice and ocean in any direction, and his breath came out in light puffs of steam. How the hell was he supposed to kill a dragon? Even one who was harming others? 

Everything had started with him being unable to kill a dragon, and now he’d agree to face one of the biggest ones he’d ever come across because he – what? Wanted to impress his dad? Wanted to be left alone by his dad?  
It all came back to family, didn’t it? Despite what he had built, the new family Hiccup had forged in fire and friendship, his dad would always be a looming shadow over his shoulder.  
Vast indeed. 

Valka was on her way home from a hunt. She’d taken out three of Drago’s ships and had managed to free more dragons than she had in the last month. She was in a good mood, and if Cloud Jumper’s playful flight pattern was anything to go by, so was he. So good a mood, in fact, that she didn’t immediately attack the rider that she spotted mounting his dragon and taking off in the general direction of their nest. Instead she guided Cloud Jumper up, into the cloud coverage and followed after him – it must’ve been a him, tall and wiry that he was. Soon though, the other dragon also entered the clouds, and – was that a night fury? Valka hadn’t encountered many, and never up close, but now…who had managed to befriend a night fury? Hot anger spiked as it occurred to her that the dragon probably wasn’t befriended but rather captured, but before she could do anything rash, she found herself flying next to the night fury and its rider. 

Behind a dragon scale mask were achingly familiar eyes. She couldn’t place them, but she knew them, knew in her bones that this rider was someone. She took in the armour, the wings crafted onto the back, the shape of the helmet, mimicking his own dragon’s features, the saddle, the delicate craftsmanship and the care that had been put into the work; the way the Rider’s hand steadied the dragon. She hoped…this might be a kindred spirit.  
Slowly, as the two dragons acknowledged each other, she stood. The rider regarded her with caution and open curiosity; he wasn’t afraid, but he was weary. She gestured for him to follow, her claws slashing through the wind. She held her staff aloft and descended beneath the cloud cover once again. 

The rider was too curious for his own good. Valka smiled softly underneath her bone-carved mask, she’d been like that too.

The rider and the night fury followed her, and she led them to an outcropping of ice just before the nest, where she dismounted and crouched low, regarding the rider. He dismounted his own dragon – a clever mechanism involving a missing foot , maybe the two of them had been injured together? – and copied her position. 

“Hello,” His voice was that of a man not quite out of boyhood yet, young but old enough to have experienced the harshness of the world. Valka said nothing, but she flared her staff, twisting it in a fluid movement around her body. This was her own version of dragon-speak. Her staff his the ground with a thud, and the beads inside whirred. The boy-man-rider regarded her from behind his mask, and drew his sword. Valka leapt backwards towards Cloud Jumper. Had she miscalculated?  
Could he see the nest from here?

But then, before her doubts could take route, his sword ignited, and the acrid smell of monstrous nightmare gel curled up her nostrils. She should have been angry – turning a dragon-thing into a Viking weapon like that was a horrifying idea - but the rider began to move. He didn’t use his whole body like she did, but she recognised the motions nonetheless. Dragon-speak wasn’t so much speak as it was a communication system based on body language, smells, grunts, and action. The rider knew enough to communicate that he meant no harm. Valka also noted with some amusement that his night fury conveyed the same message, but more accurately, much the same way mothers did with their hatchlings as they learnt to communicate.  
This rider was clever, maybe cleverer than her, but he hadn’t been doing this for as long as she had. 

Slowly, having made introductions as dragons, she removed her mask, willing to greet this new rider as a human. He copied her, slowly, seeming to realise that he was being granted an honour she didn’t give many others.  
Old habits die hard though, and instead of speaking to him, she couldn’t resist the instinct to scent him, even if scenting had never served her as well as it did real dragons. She advanced, and he backed up into the ice behind him, his eyes wide with fear and confusion. She stopped with her hands on his face and shoulder, her head close to his, noted the scar on his lip, and backed away faster than she had advanced. 

It couldn’t be. 

She hadn’t even realized she was looking for it, for the thin scar that Cloud Jumper would have left on her son’s face. She chocked back a sob, before whispering, pleading, not knowing what answer she wanted, which was better, “Hiccup?”  
“Do…” The boy squinted at her, and yes, those were her eyes studying her, “Do I know you?”  
“No,” She whispered, her heartbeat fast and loud, her breath tight in her chest. Her son, her boy, her baby, he was a clever dragon rider, he was missing a foot, where was Stoick? He’d have never let their son become this. Her son had become like her – joy squeezed her heart, her son, Viking though he was, had taken after her – “But a mother never forgets.” 

**Author's Note:**

> 100% unedited, as always. Kinda happy with this part, not gonna lie. Am absolutely procrastinating the actual plot, but I am not sorry. (I am a little sorry).  
> This was a lot longer than I intended it to be.


End file.
